According to the players, the women were promotional models hired from Sirens Agency - which supplies "strippers, lingerie and topless waitresses".

They said a businessman friend, who booked the cruise, invited the girls.

"We have spoken to the players involved and are entirely comfortable that this was an innocent afternoon spent on a friend's boat in Sydney Harbour," The Mirror quoted a Rugby Football Union (RFU) spokesman, as saying.

He added: "We are confident their behaviour was not in any way inappropriate."

The team were celebrating a 15-9 win over the Australian Barbarians - with Armitage, Haskell and Doran-Jones all starring. (ANI)